Carmakers may import steel freely

01 Jan 1900

In a bid to arrest the continuous rise in steel prices in the country, the government is planning to liberalise import of steel for the domestic passenger car manufacturing industry.

Under the new norms, carmakers will be able to import steel from any international producer.

At present, carmakers can only import steel from international producers who are certified by BIS. Government sources say that this norm is against the WTO regulations and comes under the notification 44 and that the government is now planning to withdraw this notification.

Free import will allow domestic carmakers accessing cheaper steel from the global markets. Many domestic steel-maker''s have lower pricing abroad. That is they sell abroad cheaper than home.

The step will do away with arbitrary hike of car prices in the country.

The regular hike in steel prices is hurting the production costs and bottomlines of car and also consumer goods manufacturers. The latter has been threatening to hike prices.

However, the steel makers have maintained that their price hikes were benchmarked to the international prices, especially that prevailing in Asian markets where hot rolled coil (HRC) has moved up by more than $40 per tonne in the last couple of months.